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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

So What If It's a New Year?

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of the New Year holiday. First of all, I've always hated how the first day of the year seems so anti-climactic, abruptly ending (in my opinion) all the festivities of December. No other day of the year is more worthy than the New Year for getting the title of 'kill joy', don't you agree? It also spells out going back to school or work, ending a considerably long vacation for most people. And then there's the reality that the beginning of each year also translates to people obsessing about their weight, as well as all businesses involved in weight-loss naturally capitalizing on people's sense of panic over the amount of weight they've mindlessly gained through the holidays. Give me a break !

I never believed in new year's resolutions. Well, actually I did, but that was before I grew a real thinking brain. To me it doesn't matter whether it's January 1, May 14, December 30 or any arbitrary date for people to initiate any type of change. If you think about it, the whole idea of a calendar is by all means arbitrary anyway so really, January 1 is just like any other day. You can make your 'pledges' to lose weight, save more money, be more organized, be more positive, etc, any other given day of your life.

But I suppose the real 'power' of the new year is the (somewhat) mass shift in consciousness, albeit fleeting for some. Since most people see it as a new start, a reset button of some sort, there is a sense of a promise of change. And I guess we all need that after living through 2010. There was the devastating Haiti earthquake, the volcano eruption in Iceland which affected major flights all over Europe, the BP oil spill deemed worst in US history, the passing of the immigration law in the state of Arizona which further highlights racial discrimination, the bed bug outbreak in the U.S., and don't even get me started on the Republican party's victory in the November elections, giving them domination in the House of Representatives. To make matters even worse, I also saw Sarah Palin's media coverage increase in 2010. These are only a few of 2010's bad news. Let's not forget that unemployment, terror threats and other global conflicts still loom over us.

I don't know what kind of year you had. Maybe you had a much better year than the rest of us and that's great! But whether your 2010 felt cursed or blessed, let's all turn once more to the wisdom of Ally McBeal's John Cage. In one episode he said that if you think back on the past year and it doesn't bring you tears of either joy or sorrow, consider it wasted.

Well, mine was definitely not wasted then!...But God...if you're out there listening or reading this blog, please let 2011 be gentler with the world.

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Joy Page Manuel

I'm a FORMER academic & researcher; CURRENTLY a blogging mom; ASPIRING astrophysicist, gazillionaire philanthropist, and goddess; and undoubtedly a PERPETUAL writer, dreamer, hopeless romantic and overanalyzer. Welcome to Catharsis! You can click here if you want to learn more about me and this site. I'm looking forward to connecting with you and exploring our angst together!